Some places are just magical and this is one of them. The village of Goreme is set amid towering fairy chimneys and cliffs, with the stunning backdrops of the hills and valleys surrounding it. It is difficult to articulate the way this place actually looks. So far it seems to be a very friendly and close-knit village eventhough tourism has obviously grown.

It is said that it's one of the best places in the world for a hot air balloon ride. We have to say that we did a sunrise ride with our good friends Connie and Terry a few years ago (we gave it to them as a wedding gift and we got to go along!) and it was great so we did not bother to do it again here...but we have heard people say it was the highlight of their trip. We loved our ride in Ontario so we can imagine how great the scenery would be here!

Some people say that for fascination and mystery you just ca'nt beat these cave cities of Cappadocia. They have identified 36 different underground cities in this area and most have been dated back 4000 years and some say they were occupied as early as the 7th century BC. When invaded, the people took to their troglodyte dwellings where they could love safely for months at a time.

We had the best hike of our lives yesterday when we hiked from Goreme to Çavuşin through the Rose Valley...just exceptional. And we went last night to a restored caravanserai from 1249 to see the whirling dervishes and it was spectacular!

There is so much more to tell about Cappadocia but words and even photos do not do it justice! We will do our best with photos for when we get home. Add to all of this that we stayed in a fantastic hotel (it felt like a vaction from travelling...) and we were made to feel like members of the family...who could ask for anything more?